STORY: Here are five stories that made business headlines in sub-Saharan Africa this week.

1. Botswana will take a 24% stake in Belgian gem processing firm HB Antwerp, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Monday (March 27), in a move that might start to loosen De Beers' grip on the country's diamond industry.

De Beers jointly owns Africa's largest diamond producer with Botswana, which has threatened to walk away from talks over renewing a sales and marketing agreement if it does not get a bigger share of Debswana's output.

2. Kamala Harris announced several initiatives to boost U.S. trade and investment with Tanzania during a visit on Thursday (March 30).

"One, the export/import bank will sign an MOU with Tanzania which will facilitate up to $500 million in U.S. exports to Tanzania."

The U.S. vice-president's Africa trip aims to strengthen ties with a continent where China and Russia increasingly hold sway.

3. China Energy Engineering Corp has proposed a 1,000 megawatt floating solar plant on Zimbabwe's Kariba dam at a cost of nearly $1 billion, documents showed on Monday.

Floating solar power stations are becoming an increasingly attractive option as developers seek to avoid using up large spaces and competing land-use interests.

China Energy's proposal, made to state-owned Zimbabwe Power Company and a private consortium, would see about 1.8 million solar panels installed.

4. Nigeria's outgoing government has recommended that the new administration of president-elect Bola Tinubu give public sector workers pay rises after removing a fuel subsidy in June, Labour Minister Chris Ngige said on Tuesday (March 28).

Economists say the fuel subsidy is an unsustainable drag on public finances, but Nigerian governments have failed to remove it because of fierce opposition from citizens.

5. And finally, a video of nine miners unexpectedly escaping a collapsed gold mine as onlookers cry out in joy has gone viral in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mining accidents are rife in the Central African country but the video, which has been verified, showed a rare happy ending to an often tragic story .